The BYD E6 electric vehicle is now available to buy in Australia, thanks to the expansion of an existing partnership between the Chinese manufacturer and local specialised transport company Carbridge.

Speaking with CarAdvice today, Carbridge CEO Luke Todd said that while the company will focus on taxi and hire-car businesses in the short term, private buyers are “absolutely” welcome to make contact about a purchase.

Adopting an E6 as a family hauler would not be a cheap exercise, however, with Todd confirming a purchase price of around $80,000.

Todd admits that the E6 is priced closer to a Tesla Model S than to the Nissan Leaf hatch, but he believes that the Chinese car’s large 75kWh battery pack and 300km driving range, along with its size and interior space, make for a value-for-money package.

This is huge. And in some ways more exciting than a Model 3 in 3 years time. Its got everything most folks want in an EV but for half the price of a Model S. Sure it won't have all the fruit, but 300 km + to a charge for that kind of money is pretty darn good.

Greg partridge wrote: Are there any details on what charging connectors the BYD uses?

Surprisingly hard to find on the official site, but going by this image:

They seem to be pretty standard physical connectors - same as a Leaf.

The AC connection (on the right) looks like a Type 2. The Type 1 standard is single phase only and tops out at 7 kW. I would imagine that BYD went for a Type 2 connection on this car because of the size of the battery, 75 kWh.

The question is whether or not Australia will get the Type 2 version.

Last edited by E-STATION on Sun, 24 Apr 2016, 20:53, edited 1 time in total.

Greg partridge wrote: Are there any details on what charging connectors the BYD uses?

Surprisingly hard to find on the official site, but going by this image:

They seem to be pretty standard physical connectors - same as a Leaf.

The GB/T standard (left) is used solely in China for their fast charging infrastructure, and isn't adopted outside of China due to the different technical requirements for the charging infrastructure. Seeing as the rest of the world uses either CCS or CHAdeMO it would be interesting to see if they need an adaptor to charge these cars.

In addition the connector on the right is also a GB/T standard connector, but the 3ph AC variant. It is (unfortunately) not Mennekes, but effectively the inverse of it: male on plug side and female car side.